The article explains a move by some companies to accept shorter limitations on noncompetition agreements and quotes me as follows:

For one, sensitive information “has a shorter shelf life than in the past,” says Russell Beck, a partner at Beck Reed Riden LLP in Boston.

The article also cites a study by my firm concerning the rise of noncompete lawsuits:

The number of published U.S. court decisions involving non-compete agreements has risen 61% since 2002 to 760 last year, concludes research conducted for The Wall Street Journal by Beck Reed Riden LLP in Boston. The increase largely reflects the increased usage of non-compete arrangements among lower-level staffers – along with employees’ greater mobility and access to sensitive information.

Finally, it discusses the negotiation of noncompete agreements by executives:

Executives have the most leverage to alter a non-compete before accepting a job offer, legal specialists say. If the company wants a new management hire badly enough, it will make concessions, Russell Beck, a Beck Reed partner, has found.

The lawyer recently represented a Massachusetts executive wooed by a health-care concern to be its vice president of professional services. Mr. Beck persuaded the company to halve a two-year non-compete requirement. “The benefit of having the executive outweighed the risk of harm caused by the executive’s competition after the first year,” he recollects.

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